Memories
“During the Holocaust, I was taken into slave labor when I was seventeen, in a town in Hungary. Little by little, I began abandoning the ways of Yiddishkeit. Later, I was taken to Auschwitz where I remained until the camp was liberated. After the war, I moved to Eretz Yisrael where I completely abandoned the ways of Yiddishkeit in which I had been raised. Not only did I work on Shabbos, but I even worked on Yom Kippur.”
“One Yom Kippur, after working all day, I went to sleep and saw my father, who had perished in the Holocaust, in a dream. He was standing before me in a kittel and tallis, and said to me, “My son, return to the path in which I raised you; otherwise your life will be cut off. Every night that week, I dreamt the same dream.”
“At that time, I lived alone in an apartment in Rishon Letzion. One Friday night, I ate dinner at a restaurant, and when I came home, I began switching on the radio. Suddenly, I heard a voice from behind me, ‘Oi, You are sinning again?!’ I swirled around, and I saw my deceased father face to face. He said to me, ‘My son, don’t think that this is a dream, I came to warn you to return to the path of Yiddishkeit in which I educated you. If not, you should know that your life will be cut off.’ Immediately after uttering these words, he disappeared.”
“I was shocked. That Shabbos, I refrained from smoking and turning on the radio. On Motzei Shabbos, I went to a movie to calm myself down. When I arrived home, I was astounded to see that my apartment was lit up. As soon as I opened the door, my deceased father was again standing opposite me and he repeated the same message. This time he added, ‘Know my son that is the last time that I’m coming to warn you!'”
“The next morning, I traveled to Bnei Brak to the Chazon Ish. As soon as I reached the door of his room, the Chazon Ish called out, ‘Oi, your father has no menucha because of you, since your life will be cut off!’ After a few minutes the Chazon Ish again spoke, ‘In the zechus of a great mitzva which you did in your youth, your days have been lengthened, and you will return to the Yiddishkeit in which your father educated you. Do you know which mitzvah you did that you were zoche that your father was revealed to you?’ I answered, “Even though I was mechallel Shabbos, I never harmed anyone. I also gave tzeddaka. If I passed a shul and they called out to me to complete a minyan, I didn’t refuse. I honored my parents in their lifetime.’ The Chazon Ish answered, ‘You were not zocheh to see your father because of these mitzvos, but because of a special mitzvah that you brought a boy to a kever Yisrael in your youth.’ Immediately, I remembered.”
“When I was fourteen years old, a woman appeared at my parent’s house one evening at a time during the war when the men had already been taken to forced labor. The woman told us that a boy had died in her village and there was no one to prepare a burial. My father turned to me, ‘Go my son, bring the boy here, but don’t travel on the road; go through the forest.’ I said, ‘But in the forest, there are wolves and other animals.’ My father said, ‘Go my son, don’t worry, Hashem will be with you.’
I went to the village, tied the dead child to a board, and returned alone late at night through the forest. Every sound frightened me, but I returned home safely at one in the morning. My mother instructed me to meet my father in the cemetery, where he had already prepared the kever.”
“I left the Chazon Ish’s house determined to accept upon myself the Torah and Mitzvos. I was chozer a teshuvah sheleimah and I was transformed into a new person. In addition, until that point, I had been ensnared in debt despite having a respectable job and salary. From the time that I began keeping Shabbos Kodesh, I saw bracha in everything I did, and I lacked for nothing.” (As told to R Elazer Klein, Rav of Beer Sheva – Sefer Kiryat Arbah)

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